Railway track

ABSTRACT

A railway track of the kind in which the rails are supported on sleepers embedded in ballast, wherein adjacent sleepers of the track are interconnected preferably at their mid-lengths by a member such a plank or board extending longitudinally of the track and into the ballast of the track to assist in resisting movement of the sleepers laterally of the track.

United States Patent.

Paterson 1 Aug. 29, 1972 [54] RAILWAY TRACK 1,588,985 6/1926 Nyberg..238/105 Inventor: Paterson, London 1,43 l l BOdkll'l l gland 865,1259/1907 Roberts et a]. ..238/105 1,126,538 1/1915 McNeil] ..238/105 [73]Assignee: British Railways Board, London,

England Primary ExaminerArthur L. La Point 2 Filed; July 20 1970Assistant ExaminerRichard A. Bertsch [2]] Appl NO 56 375Attorney-Sommers & Young [57] ABSTRACT [52] :LS. (g1 A railway track ofthe kind in which the mils are Sup 2 d 4 26 ported on sleepers embeddedin ballast, wherein ad- 1 0 rc jacent sleepers of the track areinterconnected preferably at their mid-lengths by a member such a [56]References Cited plank or board extending longitudinally of the trackUNITED STATES PATENTS and into the ballast of the track to assist inresisting 410 933 9/1889 S 1 238/105 a movement of the sleeperslaterally of the track. amue 1,138,510 5/1915 Simpson ..238/105 2Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Patented Aug. 29, 1972 FIG.IV

FIG.2

A; PATERSON RAILWAY TRACK This invention relates to railway track andhas for its object to improve the resistance of the track to lateralmovement including thermal buckling in jointed or continuous rail track.

According to this invention adjacent ties of the track areinterconnected by a member extending longitudinally of the track andinto the ballast of the track to assist in resisting movement of saidties laterally of the track.

The interconnecting members may each comprise a plank or board ofreinforced concrete, timber or other material and the plank or board maybe arranged to locate at each end in a vertical slot or channel definedfor example by a pair of horizontally spaced projections on theassociated tie.

Advantageously the plank or board is located at the mid-length of theties. The resistance to lateral movement of the plank or board will thenbe that provided by half the width of the track ballast irrespective ofthe direction of the lateral thrust on and the consequent lateralmovement of the track. Such placement of the plank or board also avoidsits interference with track tamping and consolidation.

In order that the invention may be readily understood, one example ofrailway track embodying the invention will now be described withreference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows in plan view the general arrangement,

FIG. 2 is a section on the line II II of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a section on the line lIl-III of FIG. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, concrete ties l supporting the rails 2through seats and fixing devices (not shown) are each formed at abouttheir mid-length with a pair of projections 3 and 4 extending from eachside thereof to define vertical channels. Extending between each pair ofadjacent ties is a plank or board 5 which slidingly locates at its endsbetween the projections 3 and 4 and extends into the ballast 6 of thetrack. Thus extending in line along the center of the track are a seriesof the planks or boards 5 and, in addition to the natural resistance ofthe ties embedded in the ballast to move laterally, any tendency of theties to move laterally of the track is also resisted by the drag of theplanks or boards 5 in the ballast.

When timber ties are used for the track, the ends of the planks orboards can be located in channel members spiked to the ties or can beprovided with integral fixing brackets spiked to the ties.

lclaim:

1. Railway track apparatus for improving resistance of the track tolateral movement comprising,

a plurality of transversely extending ties spaced from each other alongthe track and embedded in a ballast bed,

a pair of rails supported on said ties,

and at least one plank extending longitudinally of the track betweeneach pair of adjacent ties and being embedded edgewise downwardly intothe ballast bed at least to the lower surface of the ties,

each said tie having a vertical slot on each side thereof to receive anend of one said plank which prevents relative lateral movement betweenthe plankand the ties but permits vertical movement of the tie bothupwardly and downwardly relative to the plank without causing verticalmovement of 'd l k. 2. r l le ig g ai'atus of claim 1 in which said sloton said ties are substantially at the midpoint of the respective tie.

1. Railway track apparatus for improving resistance of the track tolateral movement comprising, A PLURALITY OF TRANSVERSELY EXTENDING TIESSPACED FROM EACH OTHER ALONG THE TRACK AND EMBEDDED IN A BALLAST BED, APAIR OF RAILS SUPPORTED ON SAID TIES, AND AT LEAST ONE PLANK EXTENDINGLONGITUDINALLY OF THE TRACK BETWEEN EACH PAIR OF ADJACENT TIES AND BEINGEMBEDDED EDGEWISE DOWNWARDLY INTO THE BALLAST BED AT LEAST TO THE LOWERSURFACE OF THE TIES, EACH SAID TIE HAVING A VERTICAL SLOT ON EACH SIDETHEREOF TO RECEIVE AN END OF ONE SAID PLANK WHICH PREVENTS RELATIVELATERAL MOVEMENT BETWEEN THE PLANK AND THE TIES BUT PERMITS VERTICALMOVEMENT OF THE TIE BOTH UPWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY RELATIVE TO THE PLANKWITHOUT CAUSING VERTICAL MOVEMENT OF SAID PLANK.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1 in which said slot on said ties are substantially at themidpoint of the respective tie.